Empty apology: Big Sky acknowledges officiating error as Idaho football moves focus to finale
Ask anyone who has been there.
In time, the sting of an adverse outcome in a closely contested consequential game eventually fades. But even decades later, recalling it is always accompanied by a wistful “what if …?” The Vandals are going to remember the last three minutes against Sacramento State forever.
The Hornets pulled off a late-game comeback that included a controversial 18-yard sideline catch to the Idaho 2-yard line with 12 seconds left – prompting the Big Sky Conference two days later to issue a statement that it got the call wrong, that the Hornets’ receiver landed out of bounds and that the league was suspending multiple officials from the game.
None of that mattered in real time. Sac State used the momentum of the conversion to score a touchdown on the ensuing play to overtake Idaho 23-20 and drop the Vandals to 4-7 overall, 2-5 in the Big Sky.
The question now is what will they do against Idaho State? It is Idaho’s last chance to salvage something from a season that opened optimistically with a top 10 ranking and the prospect of a fourth straight trip to the FCS playoffs. It concludes with the goal of sending the seniors out with a win.
In the volatile world of college football with the transfer portal and abrupt coaching changes added to the traditional dynamics of competition and injuries, rebuilding is always close to the surface as a program imperative. Idaho’s old guard that spent the last three years chasing a championship is left with trying to help establish the conditions to allow their successors to get one.
Vandals’ coach Thomas Ford Jr. said he appreciated the league’s apology but acknowledged “there isn’t anything you can do to go back in time.”
However, he said the finale against Idaho State Saturday in the Kibbie Dome is more than cold comfort for his team.
“The seniors are just excited,” Ford said. “They know this is their last game in a Vandal uniform.”
Idaho players who made runs to the FCS quarterfinals the past two years “are giving our younger players a blueprint on how to be successful,” the coach added.
The game against in-state league rival ISU (5-6 and 4-3) “will be highly emotional in a good way,” Ford said.
Of the departing Vandals, he said, “the impact they made within the program is tremendous.”
Idaho emerged from the morass of five straight losing seasons to go 26-13 from 2022-24 under Jason Eck, who left after last season to become the coach at New Mexico.
“These guys left a huge impact on me,” Ford said of the Idaho players who returned following the coaching change.
Looking back, Ford said the Vandals were undone by a lengthy string of injuries, most notably starting quarterback Joshua Wood, who played the second half in a loss to Montana on a sprained knee and missed the next two games.
The injuries forced them to finish close games with young players stepping in to replace injured starters.
“We had a ton of one -possession games this year,” Ford said. “That’s how close we are to being a playoff football team.”
The Idaho’s men’s basketball team is situated similar to where the football team was in August. The Vandals are 2-2, have improved their record for three straight years and have hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament this year. Basketball coach Alex Pribble had a front-row view of the football team’s season and said of Ford: “He is an unbelievable person and leader” who handled a challenging year with “absolute class.”
Pribble said Ford embodied the lesson “control what you control, get better every day.”
With one final game remaining, Ford said his team can still burnish its legacy and won’t simply go through the motions against ISU.
“I don’t see that even being an option,” he said. “We are going to keep playing hard for each other.”
That is something the soon-to-be Vandals alums can remember, too.